


No Place Like Home

by malumqt (snowboy)



Series: Fantasy AU [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: I don't even know how to tag this, M/M, also what does a dragon even want with a prince like?????, ashton gets kidnapped by dragon, ashton is a prince, both luke and calum are knights, do you see where i'm going with this???, idek with the summary, idk - Freeform, michael gots magic, this is strange, ummm there's a dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 23:27:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4854656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowboy/pseuds/malumqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You aren't going to die. Stop saying that."</p><p>"A dragon, Cal. A. Freakin'. Dragon." // "They breath fire. I could be burned to a crisp. Flambed. Barbecued because you were up in my grill-"</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Place Like Home

Luke grumbled along the trail, his best friend was beside him ignoring Luke's grumbles. The knight swore he never should have let Calum talk him into volunteering to go save Prince Ashton Irwin from a dragon.

That was stories he grew up listening to and never wanted to be apart of. A knight saving a royal from a terrible creature the two of them falling in love and getting married after? Luke didn't want that, He just wanted to protect people. That's why he had become a knight.

And really Luke was thinking Calum just wanted the adventure. He was always reading the old legends and daydreaming. So probably when he realized that the two of them were finally old enough to try, the boy didn't even think about the fact that they both could be killed by fire breathing dragon.

Personally Luke didn't believe the legends. There was a reason they were called legends, and besides Luke didn't want to die. Everyone else who tried to battle the dragon failed. Miserably. They were never seen again and those who somehow escaped got banished for abandoning Prince Ashton in there.

No matter what someone did they got the bad end of the deal when taking the challenge. Not to mention someone was tasked to do it once every couple months. Luke was convinced to volunteer. No one did that for the past two years after the third knight disappeared, assumed dead or vanished to a different kingdom. Everyone thought dragon was an undefeatable foe, but Calum was wrapped up in the stories and the boy had great puppy eyes.

"I'm gonna die. I hope you know that." Luke huffed, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm going to die and you'll feel terrible because I sure as hell am not getting banished."

"You aren't going to die. Stop saying that." Calum sighed, being the first time he bothered to reply to Luke. The lanky blond knight had been complaining from the moment they left on the journey. Technically Calum wasn't supposed to be with Luke, it was supposed to be a solo thing as traditions and legends stated, but exceptions where allowed when the tanned boy knew someone who own him a favour and they knew someone.

"A dragon, Cal. A. Freakin'. Dragon." He stopped walking to emphasize each word in hopes it would get through his best friend's head and the boy would actually feel worried. "They breath fire. I could be burned to a crisp. Flambed. Barbecued because you were up in my grill-"

"Oh my God, shut up!" Calum threw his arms up at he turned around to face Luke, and let them fall back down to his sides. "You aren't going to get barbecued and-let's camp for the night before I turn into a dragon and set you on fire."

-

It wasn't until dinner that Luke brought it up again. Some animal Calum had caught was getting roasted over a fire. Luke eyed the animal and then Calum.

"That's going to be me. I am the creature being roasted by a dragon." Luke was joking over Calum being the dragon, but he just got a glare from the boy. "I wonder how I'm going to taste to the dragon. Please ask him or her after they eat me and start on you."

"You are ridiculous." Calum said as he rolled his eyes. Luke opened his mouth to object and say some other way he could get killed by the dragon, but there was rustling in the bushes behind them and the two knights spun around to face the noise. Luke got up slowly and sneaked over the bush only to snap back around when there was a groan behind him.

He looked to his friend and Calum had his arm around a boy with.... blue hair? It was definitely blue, but how was it blue? Magic? Luke knew the law against magic and any possessing it were to be killed, but in a way Luke decided it was going to be Calum's problem if the boy was a magic user. Luke was getting burned by a dragon soon and he wouldn't be alive to worry about it.

"Okay, knights. Hi. I'm Michael. No need to kill me, I'm just traveling past." The boy-Michael held up his hands as he spoke, wincing a little. Calum looked to Luke with his arm around Michael's shoulder and a katana slightly in front of them where the blue haired boy could see it. Probably using it as a scare tactic to make sure the blue haired boy couldn't escape, and Luke shrugged. "I can see knights are not to be messed with. Really if I had known you were knights I would've avoided you all together."

"So if we weren't knights you would steal from us?" Calum asked, going for the mean knight role, looking down at the boy in his hold. Luke laughed at that since Calum acting mean is like a tiny puppy trying to be intimidating, but really isn't. And then the boy just looked like a scared kitten. Which made the situation more funny to Luke

"Yes....Wait! No. Um." Michael struggled against Calum's hold a little, eyeing the katana warily. "I can just be on my way. I don't want any trouble. I especially don't want to be decapitated. I mean I've lived a good seventeen years of my life not dying or coming close to death. I would like to keep this streak going, thank you very much. Wait! That sounded sassy. Sorry! I-I'm going to shut up."

Luke could tell the boy was rambling out of nerves. Luke and Calum shared a look and had a silent conversation.

_Should we let him go?_

_I don't know. This is your problem, I'm getting flambed by a dragon soon_

"Damnit Luke, you're not getting barbecued by a dragon!" Calum spoke with an exasperated sigh.

"I believe you mean flambed. Flambed was the word I thought of. Keep up with our silent conversations." Luke smoothly replied.

"Dragon? You're going to fight the dragon? Hey, I could help you. I have m- I could help." Michael said, almost slipping up and saying he had magic. Which confirmed Luke's suspicion about the boy being a mage.

"You have magic?" Luke ask as he was curious what Michael's reaction would be. The knight had never met a mage and maybe it could be interesting. Obviously by how the boy got more nervous (not to mention the blue hair), he was a mage.

"Um-I-er- Please don't decapitate me. I swear I could help. I mean c'mon who else has a willing mage in their company to face the uncertainty of a dragon for as a little as a pendant." Michael pleaded with a puppy dog face that wasn't nearly as good at Calum's. Calum was the king of puppy dog faces. But then what was this pendant the mage was talking about?

"We're not going to decapitate you." Calum finally spoke, and Luke nodded. The mage gave a sigh of relief and slipped out of Calum's loosened grip. Calum sheathed his katana and watched the mage carefully.

"Well actually just Calum. Calum isn't going to decapitate you. I'm getting charred by a dragon in a couple days, so I don't even care." Luke added, watching the mage move around the makeshift camp.

"So just to make sure we're on the same dragon," Michael started and both knights shared a look. With the way the mage spoke there could be more dragons in the world. "You are talking about the huge one that kidnapped the prince and now lives in an unused mountain cave?" Michael questioned, oddly specific about the dragon. He had stopping his wandering around the camp sight to give his full attention to Luke. Calum on the other hand went back to cooking the animal over the fire.

"Yes, the one that kidnapped Prince Ashton and is definitely fire breathing and definitely able to burn me to a crisp, Calum." Luke directed the last bit to the other knight, who just sighed. "I got the impossible job of saving the prince, which I'm likely to get fried like a potato and my friend over there doesn't even care."

Michael looked stunned between Luke and Calum, as if he was trying to figure the two out. "So, uh, do we have a deal that you two will get a mage to accompany you on your mission?"

Luke paused. A mage could be really helpful in defeating the dragon, saving the prince, and not dying. Then again Michael could betray him and Luke would be dead anyway. Either way there was a chance of death. But maybe the death could be limited to just him.

Finally Luke motioned Michael closer, and Michael warily came closer. In a hushed tone to make sure Calum wouldn't hear because he knew if the other knight heard that he'd objected, Luke talked to Michael. "You can join on one condition. If you plan to betray us both after you get whatever this pendant is that you want, then save Calum. Don't leave him to get barbecued by the dragon if I'm already dead. And if I'm fighting the dragon and give you a signal, save Calum and yourself."

Looking from Luke to Calum, Michael finally nodded and Luke nodded back. Luke clasped his hands together and smiled. "Okay, two knights and a mage are going to try to save the prince and kill a dragon! Where could this possibly go wrong?"

"Maybe the dragon could get this fire to cook faster." Calum commented, still sounding like he didn't care. Michael's eyes lit up though and moved to the fire. Both knights watch curiously to what Michael was going to do. The mage mumbled some words and his hair turned red as the fire got hotter.

Calum looked on in shock and Luke cracked a small smile. Maybe it was going to be a good idea letting Michael join them even if he was a mage.

***

The next morning it quickly became a better idea that Michael joined Luke and Calum. Luke had woken up first and was starting to pack of the camp. He would've woken Calum up, but the boy was sleeping soundly and Luke didn't have it in him.

The rustling through a bush since he went to get some water from a nearby creek seemed to have woken up Michael, who while he was sleepy and moody mumbled words making his hair a sort of dirty blond and everything was packed. The mage then went back to sleep, and Luke was stunned and left to his thoughts until Calum woke up.

When Luke volunteered for the task, still much to Calum's convincing, the king had spoken more of the honor of killing the dragon and returning home a hero than the actual saving of the prince. Luke didn't understand that. The king obviously wanted his son back, but he wasn't putting the emphasis on getting the prince. It was killing the dragon.

Maybe it was that a lot of the knights wanted the glory that came with killing a dragon, instead of just saving a prince. Then Luke thought about tactics and yeah, if he wanted the glory of killing a dragon he would barge in. Sneaking might just be the way to go. If he could sneak in and sneak the prince out then maybe he could die for something at least. Luke would rather die saving the prince, than dying without saving him. So sneaking could be the way to go with Michael's help.

Being so deep in thought, Luke didn't notice Michael and Calum coming towards him or the waving to get his attention. He did notice when one of them, he assumes Calum, shoved him.

"Luke, are you ready?" Calum asked, watching Luke carefully. The knight nodded and jumped to his feet.

"As ready as I'll ever be to be grilled." he said, making Calum sigh. The tanned knight's default reaction around Luke latley.

And the trio soon were walking on their way to the dragon's cave.

Luke jogged up to Michael, who was declared leader and led them through the forest as he knew more about it than Luke or Calum. The knight wasn't sure how to go about his plan so he blurted it out.

"I think we should sneak up on the dragon." Michael turned and gave Luke a questioning look. "I mean like, we should sneak in, save the prince, and then when the prince is safe then we deal with the dragon. I was thinking and lately the, I guess bait, to save Prince Ashton has been the glory and shit of killing a dragon. Not actually saving him."

"He's right." Calum interrupted as he joined in the conversation. "All the knights get so determined to kill a dragon that they forgot about Prince Ashton. I talked to a couple knights who thought about going, but they talked about the dragon and nothing on the prince. I think he became more of a prize, something to say 'here I killed a dragon and saved the prince' and not someone they should help with nothing to be gained."

Michael listened intently. The boys could see the wheels in the mage's head spinning, like he was coming up with a plan. Suddenly the mage made a turn and both boy's stumbled after him.

"I know a guy, Niall. He's an expert in dragons and also a mage. If anyone knows how to sneak up on a dragon it would be him and if anyone could teach us how to actually do the sneaking it'd be his boyfriend Liam." Michael picked his pace and the way to Niall's was silent. All three boys in deep thought over this.

***

The trio soon came upon a cabin, which didn't look like much, however when Luke and Calum entered after Michael their jaws dropped. The cabin was bigger on the inside and Luke was starting to question why everyone hates mages. So far they seemed alright, then again Luke had only met Michael and seen the inside of Niall's house.

"Hey." A voice seemly came out of nowhere until a boy with short brown hair appeared. "Mikey, long time no see."

"Liam. Where's Niall?" Michael seemed a bit hostile to who Luke guessed was Liam.

Liam gave Michael a look, which made the mage huff, but motion for Luke and Calum to follow. The two followed Michael, who followed Liam, through the house. They wondered how the cabin could be so big on the inside, yet small on the outside, but then again magic was involved.

Finally they went through a door into what looked like a workshop. Notes were everywhere and things that looked like replica dragon wings hung on the walls. Both Luke and Calum stared in wonder at the room. Michael just looked unimpressed, like he's seen it a million times and Luke was assuming he had seen it a million times.

A brunet boy appeared, but not out of nowhere like Liam, the boy came out of a side room and as soon as he noticed Michael a bright smile was on his face. Quickly Michael found himself in a hug while Luke and Calum were still looking around.

"Mikey! How's it going? Did you find your amulet or whatever? Your hair is defiantly at a natural colour so I assume so." The boy spoke quickly and Michael shook his head, and mumbled a spell to bring a pencil over while his hair turned to pink. "Ah. Why not?"

Before Michael could even open his mouth to answer, the boy's attention transferred to Luke and Calum. "Oh! Hello! Who are- Knights!" Suddenly Michael was in between the boy and the knights with the brunet boy hiding behind Michael.

"They're alright Niall. I've agreed to help them save the prince and they agreed not to kill me." Michael sidestepped so he was no longer being a shield for the boy-Niall. "They also came for your help. We need a way to sneak into the dragon's cave."

Niall blinked and looked between the trio. "Sneak? You want to sneak?" He asked, his jaw dropping a little and stared at the trio. "Wow, that's a first. I watched that dragon for years and everyone just ran straight in and got fried." Niall mumbled, confirming Luke's thoughts from earlier. He also wondered for a second why Niall didn't try to help, but then again Michael thought he was going to be killed when they first met so thinking about it, he could understand why.

Luke did lean over to Calum to whisper: "See, Calum! I could get fried like those knights." The tanned boy just sighed at his friend like always, only this time it was also complained with an eye-roll.

"But it could work. I mean you go in kill the dragon while it's sleeping and then save Ashton." Niall mumbled to himself a bit more, but Luke raised his hand to catch the boy's attention.

"We aren't going to kill the dragon first. I thought it'd be better to save the prince and get barbecued with him on his way home than failing to kill the dragon in the first place and he's still stuck." Luke explained and Niall's face lit up.

"OH! That's a whole another set of eqaztions, but there's a better chance with them. Ashton was trained by the best of the best." Luke nodded along with the boy's words.

Niall raced around the place, muttering spells that made his hair turn blond. He was going on like that for a while like that, coming back around to hand Michael and Calum something before returning a couple minutes later and taking it back.

Until he grabbed Luke's sword and balanced it on his own palm. The mage eyed it carefully before speaking a spell, making the sword have a faint glow before going back to normal.

"Here, take this. It's been charmed to easily cut through dragon scales. Designed the charm myself, if you come back alive then please let me know how it works. What is your name anyway?" Luke could definitely tell that Niall was everywhere at once in his mind, but the knight liked the mage.

"Hemmings. Luke Hemmings. That's Calum Hood over there, he's my best friend." Luke introduced both of them and Niall moved to Calum and swiped the two katanas at his side, he mumbled another spell and Luke was going to assume it was the same dragon charm. "Thank you for all your help, really, thank you." The knight smiled, getting one back from Niall.

"Liam can help you with sneaking in, but only sneaking in. I don't want my LiLi dying. Now shoo, go save Ashton and come say hi when you succeed." Niall waved a hand and suddenly the trio was with Liam outside.

The boy motioned for them to follow which they all did.

***

It was close to the middle of the day when Liam stopped in front of a mountain face. "Here, if you-" Liam started to speak while knocking on the rock three times fast, then three times slow, and three times fast again. "-do that, the door will open. Stay low, and if it comes down to your life or the dragon's then do what you think best. I'm going back to my boyfriend, you're on your own now."

The trio nodded and Liam left. Luke glanced between Michael and Calum before pulling out the dragon charmed sword Niall had given him. "Well, let's go save a prince."

The mountain door lead into a dark hallway where Michael's magic came in handy by the boy casting a simple light spell. Through the dimly lit hallway, Luke could tell that Michael's hair went white.

While Calum walked ahead, drawing his two katanas, out from their sleeves in case anything goes wrong.

They walked in silence until they came to a larger room filled with gold, jewels, armour, really all kinds of riches. The only thing that worried Luke, is that the dragon was there. He was kinda hoping that the dragon would be off hunting for gold or whatever dragons do (Luke actually didn't know what dragons did or why they would want a prince), but nope. There was a bronze dragon lying right on top of the gold sleeping.

This was also when Luke realized that they didn't have much more of a plan then sneak in, find the prince, and then kill the dragon. That's it, that was their plan. Only problem now is that the dragon's liar was massive.

And how they were going to find a prince in here was beyond Luke. The prince might even be dead, the dragon could've roasted him like a potato.

"Should we split up?" Michael whispered and both him and Calum turned to look at Luke.

"I guess? Um you two go that way and I'll go this way." Luke whispered back, getting nods in return.

Luke tiptoed around, he really didn't want to wake the dragon just yet. Their best bet at killing the creature really would be with Prince Ashton's help, if he still knew how to fight and use a sword.

Luke stumbled upon a curtain within one of the smaller areas of the cave, there was also less treasure around here. So maybe the prince was behind it or it was extra space for the dragon's riches.

Pushing the curtain aside a bit, Luke looked in the cave and saw a boy flipping a coin in the air. It had to be the prince. Not that Luke was sure what the prince looked like, but how many other princes would this dragon have kidnapped?

Luke entered in the room and waited for the boy to notice him. He didn't want to startled him in case he yelled and woke up the dragon.

Also Luke was lowkey checking the boy out. The short golden curls and jawline definitely made him look like an angel. Luke had never actually seen the prince, he was still in training when Ashton was kidnapped. Luke was still admiring the boy with an amazingly cute face and body when the he was finally noticed.

The boy squeaked and Luke quickly ran over and covered their mouth with his hand. Using his free hand to raise a finger to his lips.

"Shh, I don't want to wake up the sleeping dragon just yet." He whispered and the boy nodded so Luke removed his hand. "Are you Prince Ashton?"

"Yeah, I am. Is the kingdom finally rescuing me?" Ashton whispered back with a hopeful look.

"Uh, in a way. I'm a knight from your kingdom and I have my best friend and.... a Michael. We're the rescue team." Luke explained with a shrug. "Now do you still know how to fight?"

"Yeah, Yeah I do. I just need a sword, or a bow and some arrows. I always liked archery better than swordsman ship."

"Alright, we'll find you something. But first let's find Michael and Calum. We might be able to do this as a-" A roar from the dragon interrupted Luke and the two froze.

"I think, the dragon already found them." Ashton said before Luke ran out to try and help Michael and Calum with Ashton following close behind.

Michael was facing the dragon, with Calum behind him. Although the dragon didn't seem to be able to get to them. From where Luke and Ashton were standing, Luke could tell that Michael's hair had turned into a multicolored light purple. He must be using some magic to shield them.

"Ashton, find a weapon. I'm going to distract the dragon somehow." Luke ordered and Ashton nodded before running down to look for some type of weapon.

Luke took a huge breath and let it out slowly before yelling at the dragon and getting it's attention. The dragon turned to look at Luke and breathed fire at him. Which Luke was expecting as he ducked and rolled away from the stream of flames.

He had no clue how they were going to pull this off. Sure there was four of them, but any four of them could easily be injured. Luke did trust Michael on his promise that if things went wrong, he would save Calum.

-

Michael was casting spells left and right, either offensive at the dragon, or defensive, trying to protect the other three plus himself. Calum was protecting Michael, making sure the dragon didn't come to close to the mage. Ashton had found his archery equipment and was shooting arrows at the dragon. Some bounced off harmlessly while others got stuck between the scales.

And then there was Luke. Luke was keeping most the dragon's attention. He kept ducking and rolling out of the way of the dragon's flame. Making sure it was focused on him and not any of the others.

Suddenly the dragon's tail came around knocked Luke down and there was no hope. He was dazed and confused from hitting his head on the ground and was probably going to barbecued by a dragon any second. He won't even get to tell Calum he told him so. Accepting his fate, Luke slumped down and squeezed his eyes shut.

He was still waiting for the heat of fire to scorch him until he died. But there wasn't anything. Luke looked up and he could see Ashton between him and the dragon flames, holding Luke's sword and the fire splitting away from them.

That's when Michael and Calum joined back in the fight. Calum expertly swinging his katanaa around and attacking the dragon, gaining it's attention, while Michael tried to keep Calum as shielded as he could with his magic.

Ashton looked down to Luke and offered a hand, which Luke gratefully took. He wobbled a bit as he stood up, but played it off. Ashton eyed him warily but handed him is sword back and picked up the bow and arrows he had abandoned to help Luke.

They went in to help Calum take down the dragon. Luke still had enough adrenaline running through his body to ignore the dizzy feeling.

The dragon went in to attack Calum and Luke quickly pushed Calum out of the way and threw his sword at the dragon's chest. The sword hitting the dragon in the chest where it's heart was and the creature let out a loud roar before it collapsed down and looked pretty much dead.

Luke smiled for a second, realizing that they had done it. They killed the dragon and no one died. His adrenaline was fading fast now and the dizziness was coming back full force.

It was too much for Luke and he dropped down to the ground, blacking out.

-

Luke groaned as he slowly woke up only to be met with a pounding headache and sore torso. It kinda hurt to breath deeply. Whatever is going on Luke was in pain.

He had barely opened his eyes when there was a sudden dip in the bed. Looking up he met hazel eyes that belonged to a certain prince. "You're a prince, order my head to stop pounding." He mumbled.

"You're alive." Ashton stated, staring wide eyed at the boy.

"Yes, I'm alive." Luke said and Ashton suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room. "And you're gone." He mumbled under his breath and closed his eyes.

As he was trying to calm down his headache he heard footsteps coming to his room. He looked up and Ashton was back, along with Michael and Calum, and two other boys who didn't look familiar.

The slightly taller of the two strangers spoke up first. "How bad do feel right now?"

"Like someone is repeatedly hitting my head, the light is trying to blind me and it's hard to really breathe." Luke winced and shut his eyes.

"Alright, stay still." The boy said and did something that made everything go away to a dull ache. Luke slowly blinked open his eyes and sighed in relief. "You still need rest. Your ribs are injured, but try to breath normally. It'll hurt like hell again once the spell wears off, but Michael should be able to recast it."

Luke slowly nodded and the two strangers left the room, leaving Luke with Michael, Calum, and Ashton.

"I want to hit you, but you're injured." Calum said with a small glare to Luke. "We actually thought you died for a moment there."

"Nope, not getting rid of me that easily." Luke laughed before slightly wincing at the dull ache from his ribs.

-

It was a slow process getting better. The four boys hung out with Niall for a couple weeks, but the boy was welcoming and asked a million questions about the dragon. Luke learned that the two strangers were Daniel and Phillip, but they preferred Dan and Phil.

Luke made the joke that all the nice mages where in a club. A club of helpful magic users. Niall and Michael simply laughed and shrugged at the joke, successfully making Luke suspicious that the club was actually a thing.

Luke also spent a lot of time with Ashton. The prince was really nice and Luke could feel himself low key getting a crush. He shrugged it off since it would never work between him and Ashton. Luke was just a knight and Ashton was a prince.

But having Ashton as a friend was pretty great. He loved their friendship. Ashton was only three years older than Luke at twenty-one while Luke was nineteen. It was a bit young for a knight, but both he and Calum flew right through the training and tests.

Luke also updated Ashton on everything that had happened in the kingdom and Ashton told stories about his time with the dragon.

In a way Luke almost didn't want to get better. Because getting better would mean heading back to castle, and being back at the castle meant work and Ashton going back to being a prince with all the pros and cons that came with it.

Michael was also planning on leaving when they got to the castle and Ashton was safe. He didn't want to risk being caught as a magic user and getting thrown in jail or executed. It was going to be so different when they got back to the castle.

Luke had a new form of normality with Ashton, Michael, and Calum. They would all hang out, Michael would show them magic and at one point accidentally turned Calum into a frog. Michael was freaking out while Luke and Ashton laughed at Calum being a frog.

A few minutes into Michael's freak out though Niall mentioned for spells like that it was only a true love's kiss that would turn him back. Luke refused to kiss Calum, saying that he definitely wasn't Calum's true love.

So finally as a last resort Michael kissed Calum in frog form and he suddenly was back as a human. Both boys were blushing and Luke told them to get a room, earning a slap on the back of the head from Calum.

In the end Luke and Ashton left the two boys alone to talk.

-

"You think they're finally gonna realize now that they love each other?" Ashton said as he and Luke walked out in the forest, not straying too far from the cabin.

"If they don't, I'm about to lock them in a room for a day." Luke joked flashing a wide smile at the prince. "In a few days we're going to be going back to the castle." He suddenly commented.

Ashton sighed and nodded. "Yeah. It's so weird to think that in a couple days I'm gonna have to go back to being a prince. Do you think I'll still get to see the three of you?"

"You'll see Calum and me for sure, I don't know what Michael is gonna do, but he likes Calum so..." Luke trailed off with a shrug.

"Still. It's not gonna be like this where we can just hang out and not worry." Ashton mumbled. "We'll have a new form of normal."

Luke nodded silently. He had been thinking about. The only thing that could stay certain is Calum and him. They were partners and everyone knew they worked best together, but then again maybe Michael and Calum will get together and Calum will leave.

"I guess no one knows the future, so we'll just have to see." Ashton commented.

"Michael's a mage, I bet he knows." Luke gently nudged Ashton with a soft chuckle.

-

The days went by too quickly and Luke found himself walking through the forest next to Ashton with Michael and Calum leading the way back to the castle.

It was a quiet start to their journey. Everyone thinking about what was going to happen now that this adventure was over. Michael and Calum did finally get together and had their arms wrapped around each other's waist as they walked.

The trip was even that long. Only about a couple days, but now that no one really wanted it to end it took a week.

In one instance a bear had come out to attack them, but Michael did some spell that scared the bear off and his hair went green.

"Why did we just have to fight the dragon on your own?" Luke asked as he watched the bear run off in the opposite direction.

"I'm bear proof, but I'm not dragon proof." Michael said with a shrug.

Luke pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side as he looked at Michael. "What about lion?"

"There are no lions in this forest." Michael wasn't affected just yet of Luke's dumb questions,

"Wolf?"

Okay, now it was starting to confuse Michael, but he still went along with it. "Haven't seen one, but I would assume."

"Bird?"

"Bird?" Michael repeated staring at Luke, confusion written on his face.

"Bird." Luke confirmed with a nod.

"What the hell do you mean by bird?" Michael stopped walking and placed his hands on his hip as he stared at Luke who was covering his mouth as he giggled.

"I think he mean do you get attack by birds? Like do they poop on you or attack you with their beaks if you piss them off." Ashton said with a shrug.

Michael paused and looked between Luke and Ashton before shaking his head. "Calum, this is why you're my favorite." He mumbled, getting kiss on the cheek from the boy.

-

It was the finale day of their trip. The four boys walked through the castle town with Michael and Ashton earning stares. Luke figured it was because everyone knew he and Calum were going to save the prince and now they're back with two boys and one of them must be the prince.

Michael was already nervous though. He hadn't even planned to be in the castle town. If anyone found out he was a mage he would be screwed and maybe even killed on sight. He really didn't fancy being killed, but he also wanted to spend as much time as he could with Calum.

It had taken a couple tries with different spells, but Michael had gotten his hair to be plain black so at least it wouldn't immediately give him away like the blue did with Luke and Calum.

Suddenly there was announcement that the King and Queen were gonna be making speech. So the four boys quickly ran to the castle where the King and Queen were in front of the castle doors.

They watch in wonder as everyone gathered around and the King and Queen shared a look before addressing the crowd.

"We have decided the search for our son, Ashton Fletcher Irwin, is done. Lucas Hemmings and Calum Hood haven't returned yet and-" The King stopped mid speech since Luke started jumping and flailing his arms to get attention.

They motioned him forward once they recognized him as Luke. He quickly grabbed Ashton's hand and lead him up to the King and Queen. The two quickly bowed before them, with Ashton weakly smiling.

"Okay so King and Queen Irwin, this is Ashton. Ashton this is the King and Queen aka your parents."

Everyone gasped. Luke figured partly because he was claiming that Ashton was the lost prince, and he didn't even adress him as the prince. Just Ashton.

"Hi." Ashton mumbled shyly, looking up at his parents. His mother was the first to react as she pulled him into a hug and then they king joined in.

Everyone started cheering that the prince was back and Luke smiled fondly Ashton who looked up and smiled back.

Michael smiled at the family reunited and turned to smile at Calum when he noticed one of the people in the crowd. He faintly felt like trouble was going to come from them as they were staring right at Ashton. Michael quickly nudged Calum and subtly pointed at the person. Calum turned to see the person and his eyes widen as he motioned for Michael to stay put and started to move through the crowd.

The person seemed to notice Calum coming to them and suddenly everything went in slow motion as Michael's hair changed to black with a blue and red streak on the side. He saw the gleam of something shiny and notice it starting to move through the air toward Ashton.

Michael didn't even hesitate as he threw up a hand and sent the throwing knife to side. It clattered helplessly to the ground and Calum quickly grabbed the person. Everyone gasped, some people staring at Michael as his hair went from black with blue and red streak to dark blue. While others were staring at the person who just tried to kill Ashton.

Luke snapped his attention to Calum as he brought the person up. They were struggling against Calum's hold, but it was pretty much useless.

The king, queen, and Ashton all looked at them, but then the king was the one that noticed Michael and his blue hair.

"Luke, bring him up too. Carefully." The king ordered, pointing at Michael and all four boys paled.

Michael gulped nervously, but simply walked up to Luke and held his hands up in surrender. Luke didn't make a move toward him, but Michael stood next to him. Keeping his eyes on Calum who could do nothing but stare in shock.

"Take them both away." The king ordered and when no one moved he said it louder.

-

"You can't do this!" Ashton protested as he followed his family down hallways to the court room. "Michael is not a threat here. He's saved me twice. He saved Calum and he save Luke."

"He is a magic user." The king snapped and Ashton suddenly stopped walking. His parents turning to look at him.

"Michael is not dangerous. I'm not letting some dumb law say that he should die." Ashton said, his arms folded over his chest as his parents shared a look with each other.

;

Meanwhile Michael and Luke were sitting on opposite sides of a jail cell while Calum was pacing around.

"They can't do this. Mikey didn't do anything wrong. The other dude was the one who threw a fucking knife at Ashton and Michael stopped it." Calum rambled, running a hand through his hair.

Michael sighed as he watched Calum. "They probably think we're together."

"How? How could they think you were together?"

"One of them makes the attempt in Ashton's life, the other saves him getting the gratitude of the entire kingdom." Luke pointed out with a shrug

"But Michael was with us!"

"I could be with you to earn your trust and the trust of Ashton until we get back here and then my 'accomplice' attempts to kill Ashton, I save him which then grants me the trust of the entire kingdom and then I'll go rogue. Try to take over the kingdom and shit from the inside." Michael said as he tried to do a minor spell that would change his hair colour and sighed when it didn't work. "You know they needed mages to make this cell." He commented, as the cell kept his magic from working.

Calum pouted and sat down in front of Michael even though there was still a jail cell in the way. He stared at Michael sadly. "I've never hated a law so much. I don't want to see you die."

Michael smiled sadly and gave a slight shrug. "I don't have any control out of this. I knew what would happen if I stopped that knife and I knew what would happen if I didn't."

"You know, Ashton is talking with the king and queen about you." Luke pointed out and both boys snapped their attention to him. "He promised that he wouldn't let you die."

Suddenly the prince himself entered. He sent a look to the guard that tried to stop him. The guard went back to his post and Ashton let out a deep sigh and let his shoulders slouch.

The three boys looked up waiting for Ashton to speak. "So I have good news and bad news." He slid down against the wall and sat across from the three boys. "Good news, you're not going to be executed. Luke is going to be my personal bodyguard and Calum is going to train the new recruits in swordsmanship." Ashton half smiled and threw a pair of keys for Michael's cell to Calum.

Calum quickly unlocked the cell and ran in to hug the blue haired boy. "You said there was bad news." Luke pointed out, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Yeah," Ashton rubbed the back of his neck. "Michael, you're kinda banished from the kingdom. I tried to get them to agree to a court sorcerer or some shit like that, but apparently it's too dangerous and having you around could make other people think magic was okay again."

"Well, at least I'm not dead yeah?" Michael weakly smiled as Calum pouted and clung onto Michael's side.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I tried to get you un-banished, but they said it was either banishment or life in this jail cell." Ashton pouted as he watched Michael and Calum. He really had tried to get Michael a better sentence, but his parents were paranoid from having their son back and then an attack and a mage all in one day.

Michael looked over at Ashton and sent a reassuring smile. He could handle being banished since he didn't spend any time in the castle grounds or anyplace where guards who knew of banishment would be around or even care. Maybe he'd even go back to Niall's for a bit.

"I'm going with you." Calum mumbled into Michael's shoulder as he held on tightly to the boy.

Immediately Michael caressed the boy's cheek and looked slightly up at him, for once noticing the ever so slight height distance between them. "Definitely not." Michael spoke softly, but his meaning was there. "You need to stay here. This where you're meant to be. Besides don't think this'll be the last you see of me. People who are meant to be together will always meet again somehow." He softly smiled up at Calum.

"But-"

Calum started but was immediately cut off when Michael lightly pressed his lips against Calum's. The boy pulled Michael closer and slowly returned the kiss, his hands moving to hold the mage's waist.

He was the first to start the kiss and the first to pull back, smiling up at the taller boy. "Something to remember me by." He teased before placing another quick peck to Calum's lips. "I love you."

"I love you too."

-

For the first couple days after Michael had left, Calum didn't even have time to mope. He was training new recruits in swordsmanship and some needed special attention or some really wanted to learn duel wielding that day and Calum was busy almost ever second. He would mope for half an hour as he tried to sleep, but sleep would quickly take him and it'd be back to another busy day.

Luke and Ashton also hadn't seen much of Calum since he was so busy and they, themselves where also busy. Ashton had to meet all of the royal council and then there was the staff and other official knights, and then the common people got to meet their new prince. Luke was there through all of it making sure Ashton was safe and for the prince, Luke also helped calmed him down during everything. Not being a prince for a good threeish years really made him forget how busy and stressful it actually was.

There was also the thirty-eight times that Ashton and Luke had to retell the story of how the prince was rescued. They made it as short as possible for the older people who looked like they didn't exactly care, but still wanted to know what it was like, and then they spiced it up and made it more adventurous for the kids who would tug on their sleeve and ask for the story.

One girl had asked what happened to Michael, because Michael sounded the coolest in the story and don't tell anyone but she always wanted to see magic happen. Ashton carefully chose his words around her to explain why Michael had to leave. Her response to Ashton's explanation of people still being scared of magic from a war that happened decades ago was: "That's dumb." So bluntly and innocent and Luke agreed with her, but crouched down and said that one day Michael might return and he was sure that the boy would love to meet her and do amazing magic tricks for her.

The girl had to leave once her mother called, but that was actually Ashton's and Luke's favourite part of the day. Since she seemed to excited to be in front of two heroes and got to hear their story and all the amazing things that happened. (They may have skipped over all the boring bits and actioned up the interesting bits.)

As Ashton watched the little girl run off, Luke turned to him and gently nudged his side. "You're going to make a pretty great king one day, you know that?"

Ashton blushed and looked back at the blond boy. "I hope so."

And if Ashton slid his hand into Luke's, then no one had to know or mention it.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm writing a malum spin off if anyone cares. whether or not i post it is depended on what people think of this cause yeah.
> 
>  
> 
> [you can find me on tumblr here if you want idk](http://lillukeypoo.tumblr.com/)


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